[PC/PS3/360/WiiU] Mass Effect 3

[Darkbeat]

I've been waiting for this, the ME3 voice cast reveal is now up;

I really enjoyed the one for ME2, this one...eh...Jessica Chobot? An IGN presenter? Strange choice. Can't say I like the look of her character much. Though she's only playing a reporter with possibly only a few minutes of game time. Hopefully Shep can punch her.

Good to have the others back though. Some interesting, almost spoilerish, questions raised by some of the clips in the trailer too.

[SidVicious]

Martin Sheen is awesome.

[Kyero Fox]

Wait, so No meer? at all? I mean of course they HAVE to put Hale in there, but why not meer? why don't we just shut off the male shepards voice since he's sooo "bad"

Yes.. I am a little ticked, Because.. no garrus.. no Tali and no grunt or Wrex VAers showed up. but of course hale and liara. Why this random new girl? or is that the reporter chick.. who seems to think cleavage would make Shepard not punch her again? lol

[biodude711]

Originally Posted by Kyero Fox

Yes.. I am a little ticked, Because.. no garrus.. no Tali and no grunt or Wrex VAers showed up. but of course hale and liara. Why this random new girl? or is that the reporter chick.. who seems to think cleavage would make Shepard not punch her again? lol

Have you thought that maybe Bioware wants to keep it a SURPRISE?

[Keroko]

"If you haven't played Mass Effect 1 or 2 the game rewrites itself"

So... sounds like something along the lines of the ME2 intro comic then?

[DingoEnderZOE2]

What the H is Jessica Chobot doing in my Mass Effect??

Not that I have anything against her but she is not someone I would have expected to play a part regardless of how small a role in Mass Effect 3.

[Darkbeat]

It's sort of akin to Felicia Day in Dragon Age 2, clearly for publicity and very little else. I mean, she doesn't do very well reading out IGN-casts on XBL, so I can't imagine she'd actually do well playing a proper VA role in a video game.

They could just as easily have made her just another name slotted in with the other random names (some well known) of VAs in the credits, but it's an appeal to that disturbing group of hormonal male teens who find her outrageously attractive when talking about Call of Duty and the like.

Cheap but effective.

[DonQuigleone]

Probably only a bit part.

Something similiar was actually done in Toy Story 2, if I recall. A BBC reporter ended out reading the line of one of the baggage handlers, and it was in the final film too.

It's publicity.

[deathcoy]

Originally Posted by GN0010 Nosferatu

Man, that's messed up.

So I found two things that are INCREDIBLY SPOILERIFIC at another forum I visit. Be warned, these are ULTRA SPOILERS, so do not look at the contents if you wish to remain surprised by whatever ME3 throws at you.

Here we go...

Spoiler for high level spoilers:

http://i.imgur.com/hnvIO.jpg
http://i1167.photobucket.com/albums/...1/scan0001.jpg

I hope they have a small DLC for players to play as Joker ROFL... Romancing EDI... hmm...

[WhiteWings]

Would Joker have wires jacked into his brain or something for that to work? Well, there are less invasive ways considering the technological level.

But seriously, I wouldn't mind getting a DLC with a bunch of funny dialogue, scenes, facts and etc like various conversations where EDI and Joker are bickering like an old married couple.

ME1 seems to be based on early to mid 80s and ME2 seems to be based on the latter part of 80s. So ME3 is not going to disappoint since it will be most likely based on the 90s.

Lots and lots of stuff blowing up. Oh yeah.

[Keroko]

Originally Posted by Darkbeat

It's sort of akin to Felicia Day in Dragon Age 2, clearly for publicity and very little else. I mean, she doesn't do very well reading out IGN-casts on XBL, so I can't imagine she'd actually do well playing a proper VA role in a video game.

Blergh, I don't like the idea of Bioware resorting to that one bit.

[NorthernFallout]

I loved ME1. I really liked ME2.

Now, after everything surrounding ME3, and their recent track record, it'll probably be the last BW game I'm buying. Sad to see them fall like other developers and try to go into the popularity line of things with moar corridor FPS, publicity stunts and plot reboots.

Ofc, reserving final judgment until March, but still.

[DingoEnderZOE2]

Don't be a pessimist, Bioware simply wants to do their damnest to make sure Mass Effect 3 goes out with a bang and with as much stuff as they can add to make it a memorable experience.

(This is coming from someone who DIDN'T allow themselves to falter to temptation and look at Possible mega spoiler posts on message boards.)

(This is also coming from someone who DOESN'T play that many bioware games.)

[biodude711]

Yeah, I'm glad that I didn't fall into the trap of reading spoilers before the game is released.

[DonQuigleone]

I'm loking forward to ME3, and I thought ME2 was significantly better then ME1. ME1 was an okay RPG with Shooter elements, ME2 was an exceptional Shooter/RPG. And this is from a guy who usually hates shooters with a passion.

As for the Naysayers, Haters are going to hate, but I think most of ME2's players were satisfied. The only thing I disliked about ME2 was the lack of customisation on weapons (was a nice thing about ME1), but they're putting that in again so...

Everything else about ME1's gameplay was so so. The inventory system sucked (too much meaningless crap), the weapons all felt too samey, and it just wasn't smooth. ME2 was a lot better, a smaller number of differentiated weapons means you have much more meaningful choices to make. My only quibble was that the use of resources for upgrading was poorly thought out. Because resources were basically infinite, there wasn't any meaningful choice around what upgrades you did. On the other hand, the money balance was very good, and you had to more thought into the upgrades you bought.

I think they could have made the upgrades more interesting (rather then just shotgun damage 1, 2, 3 etc.), but I think they're going in that direction for ME3 anyway.

[Terrestrial Dream]

Originally Posted by DonQuigleone

I'm loking forward to ME3, and I thought ME2 was significantly better then ME1. ME1 was an okay RPG with Shooter elements, ME2 was an exceptional Shooter/RPG. And this is from a guy who usually hates shooters with a passion.

As for the Naysayers, Haters are going to hate, but I think most of ME2's players were satisfied. The only thing I disliked about ME2 was the lack of customisation on weapons (was a nice thing about ME1), but they're putting that in again so...

Everything else about ME1's gameplay was so so. The inventory system sucked (too much meaningless crap), the weapons all felt too samey, and it just wasn't smooth. ME2 was a lot better, a smaller number of differentiated weapons means you have much more meaningful choices to make. My only quibble was that the use of resources for upgrading was poorly thought out. Because resources were basically infinite, there wasn't any meaningful choice around what upgrades you did. On the other hand, the money balance was very good, and you had to more thought into the upgrades you bought.

I think they could have made the upgrades more interesting (rather then just shotgun damage 1, 2, 3 etc.), but I think they're going in that direction for ME3 anyway.

Seriously did anyone played Mass Effect 1 after playing 2? The gameplay in 1 was so clunky and bad that I just couldn't play it. Only true disappointment of Mass Effect 2 lack of customization. From my perspective Mass Effect 1 was more of rpg, Mass Effect 2 was a better game, but less of a rpg. I think with Mass Effect 3 having more customization it will be best of the three.

[Darkbeat]

The gameplay in ME1 is pretty bad. The shooter elements are so unrefined it's pretty hard to go back to it after ME2 (which is basically a carbon copy of the Gears of War formula right down to the button config).

That said, in most other ways ME1 was superior. The story was much, much better. No comparison in that regard. The space exploration aspect was outright genre defining. Go back and play ME1 now and see that five years on, nothing even comes close. These are things that matter so much that the clunky gameplay actually doesn't matter nearly as much as it should.

ME1 had better music (by far) and ME2 had better graphics. I'd say ME1 has better squad characters and ME2 has better non-squad characters. Writing is about equal, though ME1 had considerably more badass lines for Shep (a lot more options of threatening to kill people), ME2 had Interrupts which are brilliant.

In the end, it's actually all about focus. ME1 was focused on an immersive "Uncharted Worlds in the Galaxy" space exploration and grand sci-fi story with RPG elements. ME2 was focused on character interaction, team/relationship building and refined shooter combat. In the end I'd say I like them both near enough the same, maybe only slightly preferring ME1 for the music.

[com_gwp]

Originally Posted by Terrestrial Dream

Seriously did anyone played Mass Effect 1 after playing 2?

Of course not, shouldn't you have played 1 already before playing 2?

Also, Darkbeat made quite a good number of points on the aspects of ME1 that was superior to ME2 (Although, IMO, I'd say the music in 2 was actually better, not that either game's track were really all that memorable). One point I want to add was that coming from ME1 with its huge, varied areas and randomized planets, ME2 felt like a much smaller, less epic adventure (But made for a much tighter, focused and overall more enjoyable experience )

[DonQuigleone]

I actually think the writing and characters in 2 were way superior to 1. If you take the squadmates, most of them were fairly generic (excepting perhaps wrex and Tali). I didn't really care whether Ashley or Kaidan died.

Compare that to ME2, all the returning squadmates were much improved, Garrus got became a vigilante, Liara became less of a pansy "elf" wannabe, Tali was much more fleshed out, and did a lot more. And the other squadmates introduced were also fantastic, gotta love Mordin, Grunt and Legion!

The overarching plot in ME2 wasn't quite as good as 1, but the setup for Mass Effect 2, going around recruiting your squad mates and completing Loyalty missions, gave much more breadth for interesting plotlines and nice non-linear experience. Compare that to ME1, the main "Missions" were fairly well assembled (Feros and Noveria in particular), though the driving sections were poor. Everything else wasn't particularly great, and the exploration and side missions left a lot to be desired.

Mass Effect 2 on the other hand, had really great, self contained, episodes, Jacob, Tali and Mordin's loyalty missions particularly stood out for me. Also had some really good DLC, while Kasumi Goto and Zaeed were soso, Project Overlord was really creepy and atmospheric, and Lair of the Shadow Broker was just plain well done.

Also the whole ME2 aspect of Shephard operating outside law and council against what the authorities feel is a "waste of time" is a lot more interesting then Shephard being made a "Specter" (aka being declared "hero") in ME1. IN ME1 it just felt like you were a hero going around doing stuff, in ME2 you were some immortal badass (Shephard! You're supposed to be dead! -I get that a lot...), saving the galaxy whether they like it or not. Much cooler.

The collectors weren't great as a villain, I'll admit, but luckily they were only encountered on limited occasions, and at least they didn't wear out their welcome the way the Geth did in ME1 (who were basically 70% of the enemies you fought in ME1).

I will give ME1 credit for managing to do a great job of world building, particularly for an original IP.

[Darkbeat]

Originally Posted by DonQuigleone

I actually think the writing and characters in 2 were way superior to 1. If you take the squadmates, most of them were fairly generic (excepting perhaps wrex and Tali). I didn't really care whether Ashley or Kaidan died.

I somewhat agree. Mordin is easily the best playable character in Mass Effect and he's very good in battle too. I like Legion. Zaeed is the perfect badass. Grunt is...well...not bad, but a bit too generic. He has a hard time following up on Wrex though. To be expected.

That said, ME2 is let down by a string of not so great squad characters too. Jacob is consistently maligned, no need for me to go over that again. Then you've got Miranda who really doesn't have a personality or history outside of being genetically enhanced. Grunt, see above. Thane really doesn't make as much of an impact as he should. Same goes with Kasumi. I liked Samara but she too was one dimensional.

As you say, Tali and Garrus were improved quite a bit, but Liara was a let down (especially for her fans from ME1). Her change from young and inexperienced scientist in ME1 to angry yet inexplicably powerful Illium information broker in ME2 was bizarre, especially when you take into consideration her "Asari age".

In ME1, Ashley and Kaidan (hereafter known as the VS) are actually fully fleshed out with considerable history and in-depth personality. Either which way, ME1 had more "bang for your buck" in squad mates, there really wasn't a bad one there.

As for the writing...well...as I said, ME1 had consistently better dialogue for Shep along with the aforementioned character histories. Though ME2 has interrupts and as it focuses primarily on characters, it has more development. I'd say it comes out about even.

The overarching plot in ME2 wasn't quite as good as 1, but the setup for Mass Effect 2, going around recruiting your squad mates and completing Loyalty missions, gave much more breadth for interesting plotlines and nice non-linear experience. Compare that to ME1, the main "Missions" were fairly well assembled (Feros and Noveria in particular), though the driving sections were poor. Everything else wasn't particularly great, and the exploration and side missions left a lot to be desired.

As I said, ME2 is primarily team based. It's about building a team and maintaining relationships within that team.

It's rare to see someone who doesn't like the exploration in ME1, but we'll have to agree to disagree on that. For me (and many others) it still provides an almost epic experience of role playing as a commander exploring uncharted worlds, some of which were unmatched in design even today.

Mass Effect 2 on the other hand, had really great, self contained, episodes, Jacob, Tali and Mordin's loyalty missions particularly stood out for me. Also had some really good DLC, while Kasumi Goto and Zaeed were soso, Project Overlord was really creepy and atmospheric, and Lair of the Shadow Broker was just plain well done.

I liked the ME2 DLC quite a bit. The one with Dr Amanda Kenson was poor though.

The Bringing Down the Sky DLC on ME1 was top drawer stuff too.

The collectors weren't great as a villain, I'll admit, but luckily they were only encountered on limited occasions, and at least they didn't wear out their welcome the way the Geth did in ME1 (who were basically 70% of the enemies you fought in ME1).

Again, this is where there's a difference of focus.

ME2 had more variety of enemies and missions because it was focused on gameplay. More enemy types were a requirement of the system itself with ammo types and shields/barriers added.

ME1 was all about story and exploration. Seeing a lot of Geth makes sense in that regard. The Geth themselves were only really a means to an end though, that end being Saren and of course Sovereign. Sadly ME2 didn't really have a similar focus. Without the character stories and developments, it would be pretty empty.

I'm hoping ME3 blends the two.